KenCrooker.com

Fingers Were Meant to be Inky

/ / Babble, Ink / 9 Comments

I’m So Bluuuuuuuu…For Youuuuuuuuu!

A comparison of ten medium blue fountain pen inks (Blackstone Barrier Reef Blue, De Atramentis Steel Blue, Noodler's Navy, Levenger Empyrean, Noodler's Ottoman Azure, Pelikan Edelstein Topaz, Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, Robert Oster Blue Sea, Robert Oster School Blue, Toucan Bright Blue). This image shows the water test in progress.

A Comparison of Blues Similar to Noodler’s Navy

Google+ has a really nice fountain pen community going. It’s not super busy there, but a group of dedicated regulars keep the conversation going. There’s a lot of information sharing, show-and-tell, and (of course) questions & calls for recommendations. Regular contributor Nathan stopped in to ask for recommendation: He was looking for a blue similar to Noodler’s Navy, but that was even more water-resistant.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!!

I knew that Noodler’s published a
… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 5 Comments

Pelikan Classic M200 Fountain Pen Review

The Pelikan Classic M200 Fountain Pen in Green Swirl Resin with a black cap and piston-filling knob, Capped

Nice to meet you, Peli. I though you’d be broader.

Pelikan Classic M20o Fountain Pen

Price: $152.00
Nib: Extra Fine
Filling System: Piston

About the Pen:

On a recent trip to New York City, I stopped by the Fountain Pen Hospital to see how much trouble I could get into. They had a pile of Pelikans in a case near the front of the store, and the green and pearl swirls of an M200 caught my eye. Such a beautiful pen!

As I meandered around the store, the damn thing kept calling to me: “Kennnnnnnnnnnn! Buuuuuuyyyyyy mmmmeeeeeeeeee! You’ll loooooooove mmmeeeeeee!” I fell in love with the way it looked, but I was hesitant to spend that much money on a European pen that may be too broad for me to use every day. Regardless of how expensive a pen is, I buy it to use it, not to display it as art.

A close-up shot of the Pelikan M200 barrel's green and pearl swirls

I milled about the store for a while, but kept coming back to those luscious swirls. They didn’t have an EF on-hand, but they did let me test one with a Fine nib. I liked it a lot (super smooth), but as I expected, it was a little too broad for my everyday use. I took a chance and asked them if they could swap out an EF nib from another M200, and the dude was like “Oh yeah, sure, no problem!” So I screamed “Sign me up!” and threw money at him. I didn’t test the EF before leaving, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got home.

Shock of shocks: This EF really is… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Reviews, Uncategorized / 3 Comments

Schneider Glam Fountain Pen Review

The Schneider Glam Fountain Pen, Capped and ready for action

I’m extremely impressed by how much I’m unimpressed with this pen.

Schneider Glam Fountain Pen

Price: $15.00
Nib: Fine
Filling System: Standard International Cartridges (and apparently nothing else)

About the Pen:

The quick review: I’d rather jam it in my eye than write with it. The end.

If you’d like a little more detail, then feel free to read on. But don’t expect a different outcome in the long version.

I recently started to run across Schneider fountain pens on eBay. The most common model I saw was the Base, which is a funny-looking thing. It sort of resembles some Faber-Castell designs…but more of a cheesy, drunk-looking version. But then I found some listings for their Glam model, and I thought it looked a little more interesting. The Glam comes in a number of different screen-printed designs, and their “Cog Wheel” design was the one that caught my eye.

So I got to looking at the pen a little more in-depth. I noticed right away that… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 8 Comments

Faber-Castell Basic Fountain Pen Review

Faber-Castell Basic Fountain Pen, uncapped and looking sexy

From my “I can’t believe it’s not broader” file, I would like to introduce you to the…

Faber-Castell Basic Fountain Pen

Price: $45.00 (+ $5 for the converter)
Nib: Extra Fine
Filling System: Converter & Standard International Cartridges

About the Pen:

Founded in 1761, Faber-Castell is one of the oldest and most well known manufacturers of writing instruments and art supplies. 1761. That’s over 250 years. Two and a half centuries. We’re talking a quarter of a millennium, people. They’ve been around a while. They’ve had lots of time to perfect their products. And it shows.

I bought this pen a long time ago, and never got around to inking it up. I figured that because it’s a European pen, the nib would probably be broader than I’d prefer. When I finally tried the pen, I entered a fit of jubilation and regret: Jubilation over how fine a line it actually puts down, and regret over having let it sit in a drawer for so long.

Faber-Castell Glamor shot of the Basic Fountain Pen, capped… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 13 Comments

Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen Review

Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen in black Makrolon with an EF nib

In my first review of a gold-nibbed pen, I present the beautiful yet slightly frustrating…

Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen

Price: $160.00
Nib: Extra Fine
Filling System: Piston Filler

About the Pen:

So after the saga of the Grail Pen that Wasn’t, I decided to tone it down just a bit and take a stroll down Entry Level of High End Boulevard. Up to now, the majority of my pens have been in the sub-$20 range, with a handful of mid-range pens (about $40-$80) peppered in for an extra dose of shiny bits. Buying a Visconti Homo Sapiens was a thrilling, disappointing, and eye-opening event for me. It was a beautiful pen…oh yes, it was (Lava! It was made from freaking Lava!). But it didn’t work out for me as a useful writer and it was WAAAAY too expensive to be just a showpiece. So I traded it in for three (count ’em THREE) pens that are considered among the first tier of the high-end fountain pens. The first one I’m going to review is this luscious little polycarbonate wonder: the Lamy 2000 (look for reviews for the Pilot Custom 74 and Vanishing Point in the near future).

I was kind of surprised. I had every intention of tearing into the Vanishing Point first, but once I picked up the Lamy, I just couldn’t put it down. So sit down, strap in, grab yourself (insert Beavis joke here) a mug of tea, and read on to find out how good it really is…. Read More

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Knox Galileo Fountain Pen Review

Knox Galileo Fountain Pens (Black and Orange)

Price: $15.00
Nib: Extra Fine
Filling System: Piston / Cartridge (International Standard, I think)

About the Pen

Knox is an interesting brand. They’re only available from one retailer (XFountainPens out of Pittsburgh, PA, USA). They appear to be commissioned from a Chinese manufacturer, but outfitted with German nibs. I heard some great things about the Knox nibs and noticed that the Galileo came with a free bottle of ink. For $15, I figured I’d take a chance on it (okay, the fact that it comes in a nice, shiny orange may have had something to do with it, too). With the exception of one rather large flaw, I absolutely love this pen…. Read More